the world avoids Israel like the plague

Israel has established itself as the premier international leper state - no longer in Arab eyes only.

The recent Locarno Film Festival dropped Israel as the co-sponsor of one of the programs because of the retaliatory bombing against Hizbullah targets in Lebanon. Lebanese and other Arabs filmmakers protested Israel's participation in the Swiss event. Israel was listed as a co-sponsoring the Leopards of Tomorrow program.

Organizers of the Edinburgh International Film Festival have also cancelled Israeli Embassy sponsorship of their program and returned the Israeli check following a protest. The Edinburgh branches of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Stop the War Coalition had planned to picket all major film festival events if the link with Israel had been maintained.

12 Comments:

"When this whole thing started in Lebanon last month, I predicted it was the beginning of the end for Israel. Was I right, or what?"

- I sure hope you're right. It is certainly looking that way. Fingers crossed, for all our sakes. Israel are certainly going to find themselves under far more scrutiny and civilian pressure (not government, who only look after themselves at the expense of the people) from now on. Like the USA invading Iraq, the world gave Israel the benefit of the doubt up until they recently went ballistic on Gaza for the capture of 1 soldier. Their attack on Lebanon then pushed them into psychotic, murderous wacko land. Israel, and the US, have both more than used up their allotment of "benefit of the doubts"

put the zionists on sanctions, oil sanctions, freeze bank accounts, ban ther products, and boycott the america dollar, for starters. lets start a new war crimes tribunal in the middle east perhaps in iran. let the justice be swift and televised for the world to see. i would like to see cross amputations for zionist ' settlers ' ( stealing lands not thers )and automatic death penality for those who order the war and kill so many civillian. its odd how the zionists are not classify as terror organization, they true meet the critera. perhaps ruining them financially will be the only way they can be reached, but im living in a fantasy world as this is not very likely to happen.

This is a letter to the editor in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Bombard this putz with e-mails! He needs it!===================Lebanon an enabler

Trudy Rubin's Aug. 16 column, "Shock and awful," alleges that the United States let Israel attack all of Lebanon, "a fledgling democracy." Nowhere does she note that Hezbollah has been a part of that so-called fledgling democracy, holding two significant ministerial positions within the Lebanese government. Rubin cites unnamed sources in Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's party, who boldly told her after the fact that if only Israel had confined its air response to the south, they would have pressured Hezbollah to pull back and disarm! Where was Saniora the past six years to face down Hezbollah and assert control over all of his country?

Rubin mentions that they also would have needed Israel to settle territorial disputes with them. The question is: What territorial disputes? When Israel withdrew from Lebanon more than six years ago, the United Nations recognized that all territory in dispute had been settled.

Let us be clear. There are differences of opinion within Israel about the tactics and military strategy recently employed, but there is universal agreement that Hezbollah attacked Israel and murdered and kidnapped Israel's military personnel and that Israel had and still has the right to defend her citizens.

Lebanon's government sat back idly for six years ignoring U.N. Resolution 1559 and enabled Hezbollah to become a terrorist state within a state.

Scottie honey,please take those zionist blinders off. The reason that Jews have been successful in business and taking control of America and UK and other countries is---just like your bullshit rant,good liars. Please do give us some facts on your fabracated lies and prove to us that it is,just jewish crap. a) Hezballah attacked the Israel and kidnapped troops . What bullshit. Thousands of Lebenese have been arrested by Israel and still in Jails. Kidnapped ?-more like arrested--prisoners of war. b) yah ! surething, Israel would love to have the Hezballah in Uniform,so they can butcher them C) UN recognized disputed area been settled---What crock of shit. Please, the Jews run for cover and for the past 6 years on a daily basis has crossed the border--killing and still hangs onto Arab lands. d) defend her citizens---the rockets fired only occured after the Isra bombers bombed the shit out of Lebanon. Get your facts straight, asshole ! Lebanon,sat back for 6 years and did nothing---look you piece of shit---Israel has not complied with any UN resolutions---321 of them. Even this last one--the Jews are killing and firing off---- I guess Scottie wants the hezballah to be disarmed,so they can have an easy access in invading. Nice try. Please do explain, why Israel took part in the 911 bombings--how was that capper to defend the citizens of Israehel. Jews make me vomit--send them back to Russia !

You are mistaken. The universal agreement that you claim is false and misleading. There is no universal agreement that Hezbollah attacked Israel first. You have neglected to mention that key point. Your memory may be faulty on the sequence and significance of events but mine is not. It is an often repeated lie and popular assumption that Hezbollah started this conflict. Israeli apologists expect our memory to begin with that event and to believe the lie that this conflict started with the "kidnapping" of 2 Israeli soldiers. This is absurd.

You neglect to mention the thousands of people, including civilians, who have been kidnapped by Israeli soldiers and who are held in Israeli prisons without just cause in the so called democratic state of Israel. You neglect to mention that these Israeli soldiers were alleged to have crossed the border into Lebanon and were responsible for attacks on Lebanese citizens. Furthermore, regardless of who started the conflict, it does not justify Israel's vicious response of collective punishment.

You say that "Israel had and still has the right to defend her citizens." I say that the Israeli government does nothing about the crimes of it's soldiers and citizens. The Israeli government steals from and murders Palestinian and Lebanese people and invades their land. Israeli citizens are allowed to murder and steal from Palestinian and Lebanese people and the government does nothing. Perhaps Hezbollah considers this an arrest or perhaps a retaliation for Israel's vile act of invading Gaza and kidnapping legally elected officials. Are the Israelis the only people who have the right to defend themselves?

This constant whining about terrorism is absurd coming from a terrorist nation such as Israel. Has it ever occurred to you that groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the PLO were formed as a means to resist Israeli injustices and violence. Israelis are not the only people who have a right to defend themselves.

People have the legal and moral right to defend themselves against invasion and occupation. Israel occupies Lebanese, Palestinian, and Syrian land. Israel commits illegal and immoral assaults upon the citizens of Gaza and Lebanon on a daily basis. Why do they not have the right to defend themselves? They are right to resist. Israel is wrong to oppress and sabotage the lives of these people and to murder them with impunity. No amount of legalese, rhetoric, or doublespeak will make Israel justified in it's actions. There are too many of us who are intelligent enough to see through that kind of cheap manipulation. If you think Israeli aggression gains credibility when the US president and his neo-con cronies endorse it, you are sadly mistaken.

"When this whole thing started in Lebanon last month, I predicted it was the beginning of the end for Israel. Was I right, or what?"

I too hope that your predction was correct! as an African born here in AmerikKka -this sickens me! we have yet to recieve reparations for our holocaust yet these buggers scream holocaust and anti-semitism every chance they get -i say screw that you've been paid the world over... now look what you have done with the resources! Israel decided to turn on humanity and bomb the geck out of peace! yeh... she must go, like a drunken broad at a disco tech... she must go before she spews bile on everything in her path -screw Israel, with a glass one!

Grow some common sense people. Scotty probably only came here because of orders from above (or his giyus trojan infected desktop).Do you guys seriously think that anyone who could direct the Republican Jewish Coalition would even consider contemplating the truth for a second. He is a man who lives and breathes lies, hypocrisy, and support for unmitigated evils.Do not make any direct responses to Scotty's email address as this smells to me like a bit of bait.

Exactly, digital. I have no doubt when Scotty begins reading letters like gnos', which was a great one, that he just hits "delete". Even if these Zionists actually do know the truth, they would die before admitting it.To hell with Israel, may she fall into the everlasting fires of hell or someplace.

Its a shame that the west were ignoring Arabs since 60 years back with their conflict with Israel, and now America started to relaize how much Arabs were suffered with those zionists, anyway its never late.

The internet really let the "cat out of the bag" on the reality of the Middle East. The west's news has been controlled for so long only people that actually went into the region were aware of the atrocities inflicted upon the Arabs by Israel. I surely didn't know how tragic things were for the Arab people, but now I do, and I abhore every single thing that Israel stands for. But like you said, better late than never. And even if we lose the internet, which many of us will, the cat is out and can never be put back in. Long live Palestine and Lebanon!